(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a three-dimensional reconfigurable machining system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a three-dimensional reconfigurable machining system in which a main spindle for machining a workpiece is slidably installed in a circular pivoting frame to be reconfigurable in upper/lower/left/right/forward/backward directions, thus being capable of three-dimensionally machining a workpiece with a simple structure.
(b) Description of the Related Art
In general, a laser machining machine has been developed in order to three-dimensionally machine a workpiece.
However, such a laser machining machine is used mainly in processing a small-sized workpiece, rather than a large-sized one.
For the three-dimensional machining of the large-sized workpiece, 3-axis, 4-axis, and 5-axis machining machines have been developed.
However, those multi-axis machining machines are huge and complicated in structure due to multiple spindles provided therein, and consequently, they are very high-priced.
To solve the above limitation, U.S. Pat. No. 5,943,750 discloses a reconfigurable machine tool including a vertical support unit inserted in a slot to be placed in position, and a horizontal support unit inserted in a hole to be placed in position.
However, the above method of positioning the tool using the vertical support unit and the horizontal support unit has limitations in machining a complicated three-dimensional (3D) structure, and there are drawbacks of low rigidity and high vulnerability to vibration due to the cantilever shape of the tool.
Furthermore, there is the limitation that a tool is mounted to each of the vertical support unit and the horizontal support unit, and thus multi-axis machining needs to be performed.
To solve the above limitation, the applicant of the present invention has proposed a new concept of 3D reconfigurable machining system through Korean Patent Application No. 10-2008-0108376.
However, since the 3D reconfigurable machining system, as shown in FIG. 1, includes arch-shaped pivoting frames 2 and 3, weight balancers 4 and 5 are required for the smooth rotation of the pivoting frames 2 and 3, the pivoting frames 2 and 3 may undergo changes in shape at the time of assembly, and the machining using the pivoting frames 2 and 3 is somewhat complicated.
Therefore, there is the need for a 3D reconfigurable machining system capable of three-dimensionally machining a workpiece in a convenient manner with a structure enabling the smooth rotation of a pivoting frame, undergoing less change in shape at the time of assembly, achieving convenient machining, and having a spindle reconfigurable in upper/lower/left/right/forward/backward directions.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.